We all have a friend or two with crazy dietary restrictions. I tried several recipes for those of my friends with a gluten allergy and could never find one that tasted any good. Well these cookies tasted so good that you don’t even have to say, “they’re gluten free.” We’ve put our Will Bake 4 Food twist gluten free cookies! Here’s How:
Ingredients:
DRY:
½ lb granulated sugar (about 1 C), reserving 3 tablespoons out for meringue
½ lb Finely ground almond flour (about 2 C)
2 oz (1/2 thin bar) grated 100% cocoa bakers’ chocolate, grated
½-3/4 t ground cinnamon
1 orange (or lemon) rind, grated
WET/Meringue:
3 large egg whites, room temp
1/8 t cream of tartar
3 T sugar (reserved from the ½ lb.)
1 t pure vanilla extract
topping (optional):
almond slivers or whole almonds
Other Stuff:
Large mixing bowl
Small mixing bowl
Fine and medium graters
Kitchen scale
Hand held/stand mixer fitted with whisk
Cookie scoop/teaspoon
2 large baking sheets
Parchment paper/silicone mat
Instructions:
Separate egg whites from yolks and allow to come to room temperature. Reserve the yolks for a delicious pastry cream or fruit curd!
Preheat oven to 300DegF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper/silicone mat and set aside.
Measure out sugar and reserve 3 Tablespoons into a separate ramekin. Add Almond Flour Grated Chocolate, cinnamon, and finally grated orange to sugar and whisk until thoroughly combined. Set this mixture aside.
In bowl of your stand mixer, whisk the egg whites until they begin to be frothy, add in the cream of tartar and whisk until soft peaks form. Gradually add the reserved 3 T of sugar a little at a time until all is in the mixture. Whisk for about 2 ½-3 Min until hard peaks form. Add in vanilla and whisk just until incorporated.
Fold the dry mixture into the meringue about 1/3 at a time until a stiff dough is formed. With a teaspoon or small cookie scoop portion out the dough onto a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. I like to measure these out and then go back and roll them in between the palms of my hands to form a smooth ball. Once the sheets are full, top each ball with and almond sliver. Bake for a total of 23-25 minutes, rotating the pans half way through baking. Once baked, allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes on the sheet before removing to a cooling rack; this will allow the cookies to set. I often have 2 baking sets of these.
The combination for bitter chocolate, sugar and orange zest is one that is hard to describe, but I would say it’s Heaven J. The BEST part about these cookies is that when stored in an airtight container, they will keep for up to 7 days (they won’t last that long).
